This invention relates to money dispensers and more particularly to a money dispensation confirming system employed in the money dispenser.
In a conventional money dispenser for dispensing money with a plurality of monetary denominations, money is delivered to a money dispensing outlet through a money conveying system such as shown in FIG. 1. For convenience in description, it is assumed that the money dispenser dispenses bank notes with two monetary denominations, that is, 10,000 yen and 1,000 yen. The money conveying system comprises money containers 1M and 1S which contain 10,000-yen bank notes and 1,000-yen bank-notes respectively. The money containers 1M and 1S are moved vertically by container moving means as is shown by the arrow 2 in such a manner that they are set in alignment with a money dispensing mechanism 3 upon application of signals representing the denominations of 10,000 yen and 1,000 yen, respectively. For instance, when the signal representing the denomination of 1,000 yen is applied to the container moving means, the money container 1S is moved upward and is set so that bank notes are picked up by the money dispensing mechanism 3. The money dispensing mechanism 3 picks up bank notes one by one from the money container and inserts them between rollers 5 provided at the money loading side of money conveying means, or a money conveyor 4, which delivers them to the money dispensing outlet through rollers 6 provided at the money unloading side of the conveyor 4 to drop them into a tray 7.
In order to count the number of sheets of bank notes dispensed, the money dispenser thus organized further comprises a first detector 8, such as a photoelectric detector, which is provided at the money loading side of the conveyer 4, or at a position immediately after the rollers 5. The first detector 8 senses a bank note passing therethrough to produce a detection signal A and supplies it to circuit means shown as part of FIG. 2.
The detection signals A thus produced are applied through a distribution circuit 11 to a first counter, or a dispensed money counter 12, separately according to the monetary denominations. The first counter 12 counts the detection signals A and accordingly the number of sheets of bank notes unloaded on the conveyer 4.
The money thus counted as the number of sheets by the counter 12 separately according to the denominations is converted into an amount of money, which is applied to a comparator, or a coincidence detecting circuit 13, while an amount of money to be dispensed which has been registered in a registration memory register 15 by a ten-key 14 is applied to the coincidence detecting circuit 13, whereby both amounts of money are compared with each other by the circuit 13. When they coincide with each other, the coincidence detecting circuit 13 produces coincidence signals Bm and Bs separately according to the denominations. Upon production of the coincidence signal Bm or Bs, the money dispensing operation of the money dispenser is ended. In this connection, in general, all of the control means of the money dispenser are deenergized immediately after the production of the coincidence signal in order that the money dispenser be prevented from carrying out an of erroneous operation due to some cause.
When it is necessary to confirm if the amount of money registered by an operator coincides with the amount of money dispensed out of the money dispenser, contents of the memory register 15 and the counter 12 are displayed on a display unit 16 for an amount of money registered and an unit 17 for an amount of money dispensed so that the operator can confirm the coincidence by comparing these contents thus displayed with each other.
However, this method of confirming the coincidence of two amounts of money is not always reliable. For instance, sometimes bank notes on the conveyer 4 are caught by something while being conveyed by the conveyer 4. That is, if money conveying conditions of the conveyer 4 are abnormal, the amount of money dropped into the tray 7 is smaller than that registered even if the indications on the display units 16 and 17 coincide with each other. Accordingly, it is necessary that the money dispenser be so designed that the number of sheets of bank notes dropped in the tray 7 is correctly counted so as to enable the operator to readily find out the shortage of money. This is important especially for the prevention of troubles caused in the dispensation of money from a money dispenser.
There is another kind of trouble in the dispensation of money from the money dispenser; that is, an operator can tell a lie as to the amount of money dispensed if he wants to. More specifically, in the case when, although bank notes have been conveyed into the tray 7 without trouble, the operator claims that the amount of money paid to him is different from, or less than, the amount of money he registered, it is impossible to judge whether his claim is correct or not if the money dispenser is not provided with means suitable for the judgement. This means may be the display units 16 and 17. However, the amounts of money displayed on these display units disappear when the coincidence signals Bm and Bs have been produced and the money dispensing operation has stopped, and the money dispenser becomes ready for the next money dispensing operation. That is, after the disappearance of the amounts of money, the display units 16 and 17 are useless for the judgment described above.
Furthermore, if the money dispenser has troubles in its control system due to some reasons as a result of which the coincidence detecting operation described above cannot be carried out, sometimes the amount of money in the tray may be greater than the amount of money registered. In order to eliminate such a trouble, it is necessary to provide a device in the money dispenser which can detect the incorrect dispensation of money.